Lullaby
by winterhats
Summary: Shintaro isn't too fond of kids. ShinAya, post STR, one-shot.


_Can you hear that. It's the sound of me not going to school. Because it's. SUMMER. And hopefully my best friend won't commit suicide or get hit by a truck, so I'm excited for this break. I'm going to write so many bad and dumb HaruTakas you have no idea._

 _Right, KagePro belongs to Jin._

* * *

Bumping her nose against the baby's, Ayano giggled back at Ene, as the child played with her dangling brown hair. She hugged the infant against her chest; moving a little and humming a lullaby she could remember her mother singing to her when she was a child herself; the same lullaby she had sung to Tsubomi, Kousuke, and Shuuya, and a lullaby she'll be able to sing to her own child in a happily hoped future.

Ayano felt herself melting as she heard the baby's soft giggles. She definitely loves all the kids, but she had never actually had a chance to take care of a kid _this_ young, and now Ene was literally her only chance to interact to children, or at least for the moment. She had to take what she had, and what she had was the chance to babysit her best friends' child.  
Ayano instantly wanted to be the one taking care of Ene when her parents weren't around, which sadly (fortunately?) wasn't very often as Haruka and Takane were very clingy to their child. Ayano understood that, of course, Ene is their kid and it's completely normal for them to love as much as they do, but if someone was needed to be looking after the baby, she would already be there to cooperate.

But unfortunately, her partner wasn't as excited as she was about it.

"I've been looking for you around the house," Ayano heard Shintaro's voice behind her as he walked into the room, sounding as emotionless as he used to sound back then in highschool. "I can't believe you're still with that little fat ball."

Ayano grimaced at his words, but she managed to keep the smile on her face, even so she stopped humming. The both of them were in Takane and Haruka's house, so it was a little obvious if he was a little lost looking for her there, since she was actually supposed to be in the living room. Now, Takane said she'd be out for groceries, and Ayano immediately convinced Haruka to go with her, so she could spend time with Ene.

"Well…" Ayano sweetly tried to think of an answer, she really did, but the girl only smiled gently instead. She just didn't have a reply for that; what was she supposed to say?

Shintaro walked to get closer to her, as she was standing just next to Ene's crib. He raised an eyebrow, peeking at the child cozily wrapped around Ayano's arms. As always, what draws his attention is the little dot under her little and tiny eye, imitating Haruka's birthmark.

He quickly stepped back, not looking quite different as before, maybe even more disgusted with the kid. At that, Ayano sighed.

"Why don't you like her?" she asked, trying to sound sweet, even if she always sounds like that. She brushed away dark bangs from Ene's eyes, waiting for an answer that Shintaro was presumably thinking.

"I do like her," he sputtered, crossing his arms and laying his back on the wall. "But I just don't like kids."

"What? Why not?" she asked, her eyebrows were drawn in concern. If he doesn't like kids– then what about her future children?

"I don't know, they're sticky and gross. They only know how to cry, poop, sleep and eat."

"Well, that's because they're babies, silly. Being a parent must be a wonderful thing, you know?"

"I'm not talking about being a parent. I'm talking about that Ene's messy and that's why I don't want to have anything to do with her until she can at least talk," his words maybe were thoughtless, but Ayano simply knew he didn't actually mean it. She can remember how happy he was when Ene was born, and there's no way he could deny that.

"No, that's what you watched in television about how the babies are like. Ene is not messy," she replied, chuckling again at Shintaro's sigh. Ene couldn't be messy or sticky, because she was constantly at Takane's care, and she would always make sure to clean her properly. She practically smelled like flowers; and on the top of it, she wasn't a crying mess, either. "Okay, come closer."

Her last demand made Shintaro raise an eyebrow, but all he did in response was to cross his arms and look at her with a flat face, he almost looked like he was smacked by a pillow and was mad because of it. Ayano only watched him back with patience, until the boy gave in and walked towards her; not without letting out an exasperated sigh before.

"What?" he shrugged, once he was right next to her. The brunette smiled and concentrated her gentle gaze on Ene, hugging her a little more closer to her chest.

"See what I'm doing here?" she asked, trying to beck to her own hands, to show him how they were placed on her back to hold her suitably. "See how easy it is?"

"…So?"

"Now you try!"

"What!? No way! No– No! I don't want to– Ayano!" and the next thing he knew, was that the infant was already pushed into his arms. Shintaro instinctively rushed a little too much to hold her, because if he didn't, Ene would have ended up on the floor, and if that happened, he could barely have time to write his will as Takane rips his head out.

A look of frustration descended on his eyes as he tried to soft up his hold. Oh god, he was doing it terribly. Ene would fall, she's definitely going to fall from his butter arms and hands. And there it goes; there it goes his life. First, who knows what Ayano would do to him, and then before Haruka could tell him anything about it, Takane would murder him. That was it. He could see himself dying already.

But then he heard Ayano's giggles next to him.

"See? It's not hard!" she said with her thumbs up, watching them from the side. "And she's happy!" Ayano shook him a little when Ene laughed, and by this, Shintaro decided that it may be not as bad as he mentally made it sound like to himself.

Maybe babysitting this little new friend with Ayano wouldn't be a nightmare; Ene is quieter than her, the real nightmare is actually hearing Ayano's dumb stories. But, honestly, Ene is adorable. And no, she wasn't messy or sticky like he said earlier, he guessed he just said it to at least say something. He couldn't help giggling back at the baby.

He heard Ayano saying _'aw'_ a few more times, before she talked again. "She really likes you! Why didn't you want to hold her before? And don't say she's messy!"

"Well, I… Because I thought she was going to explode and die if I ever touched her…" he quietly replied, smiling, and being way too distracted looking at Ene to see the girl just blinking in confusion next to him, but she chose to not comment anything. "Now what? Am I supposed to just hold her? Is this the really fun thing that the three of you can't stop doing?"

"Yes!" Ayano chirped out, as she clapped. Suddenly, a movement of the baby drew their attention. Ene shrugged.

"Oh god, Ayano, she's going to explode, I told you!"

"Calm down! There's literally no way she could–" before she could finish her sentence, the collar of Shintaro's shirt was covered with puke. There was a small silence before Ayano couldn't help snorting, in an attempt to not laugh. The boy closed his eyes, sighing in exasperation.

"You can have her back," he said, trying to give Ene back to Ayano, but he was actually deathly afraid of moving with her in his arms.

Ayano didn't take Ene back, she was too busy laughing, and to make things worst, was that he heard the door opening behind them. Haruka and Takane were now standing there, and Ayano was already saying hi and ignoring that Ene had vomited on her boyfriend.

"Hah, hey there, that's my girl!" Takane laughed, quickly taking away Ene from Shintaro. He only growled, hearing Haruka and Ayano's giggling.

"It's not fair! Why did she had to do that when I was the one holding her!?"

"Because she's such a good daughter," the mother of the _(evil. Shintaro decided, that Ene is evil. There is no way that someone named that couldn't not be evil, and this just confirmed it.)_ fat ball replied, cleaning up Ene's mouth with the tissues Haruka handed her. Shintaro just sighed, and stole a few away to clean himself.

"It's weird that you were holding her, though…" Haruka suddenly pointed out, after he finished chuckling.

"Yes, he finally wanted to hold her!" Ayano said clapping once again, and raising and eyebrow, the parents of the little _evil fat ball_ looked at him.

"N – no, I didn't say I wanted to! You made me do it!" defensive, Shintaro turned around and crossed his arms, already wishing to go home. After hearing more laughter of the people who, he lamented, are his friends, he felt Ayano hugging him from behind.

"But you looked so happy when she was in your arms…!" she dramatically murmured, although her giggles were still coming from her mouth. "Ah, I wonder if you are going to smile like that when we have our own child…!"

Shintaro choked with his own saliva.


End file.
